"Yuri!" A staff member at the Capital Zoo pointed at a map. "The sewers here also need to be cleaned. Someone mixed up non-recyclables with hazardous waste, and now this area is completely blocked."

"Okay." The taciturn middle-aged Alpha man responded and walked towards the water inlet with the cleaning tools.

"Hey, Yuri," the staff member called over to him. "Could you please not get blood everywhere this time? Last time, you were seen by tourists, and they thought there was a murder in the zoo. If that happens again, we can't continue to cooperate with you. Do you understand?"

Ulysses Valen glanced back at him, his lips trembling beneath his thick beard. "I see. Thank you."

He pried open the manhole cover with heavy steps and followed the path indicated by the map to find the blockage.

Next to him is a one-meter-tall robot that can be operated with a simple click. It is usually used in various situations where humans cannot move freely.

"Yuri, Yuri." The robot muttered in a flat mechanical voice.

Yuri slapped it: "Stop making noise."

The smell of the sewer was indescribable, but he was used to it. He walked expressionlessly along the edge of the sewage in his wellies, using a vintage mobile device from several years ago to determine his direction. While the job was disgusting, the pay wasn't too low, and with the right machine, clearing the clogged pipe wasn't difficult... at least for most people.

But for Yuri, the most unbearable thing is never the smell.

The daunting difficulties came from within himself.

In the dim, confined environment, dealing with all the challenges alone, one can sometimes lose track of time. Yuri didn't know what was wrong with him; he often felt dazed while operating the machine to shred garbage, unknowingly standing there for long periods without doing anything. For an hourly worker, time is money, and he couldn't tolerate his own mindless waste.

In comparison, the occasional hallucinations and auditory hallucinations are secondary. At least Yuri can tell which are real and which are false.

What? Go to the hospital for a checkup?

Don't joke, he doesn't have any savings, can't afford medical insurance, and can't pay the high diagnostic fees.

What's more, he himself used to be a doctor and knew very well when going to the hospital was useful and when it was just a waste of effort.

Moreover, he had some little-known 'minor problems' that prevented him from even undergoing ordinary surgery.

After about half an hour, Yuri's movements gradually slowed down.

He irritably raised a finger to cover his ears, but it was no use. Inexplicable mumbling, as if coming from the depths of his brain, mixed with monotonous and unpleasant music filled his eardrums and turned his mind into a mess.

The auditory hallucinations had only started a while ago. Perhaps it was from a video he shouldn't have seen while browsing Starnet, or perhaps it was because he'd wandered a little closer to Maanbao Square that day. Who knows? Yuri had long lost interest in delving into all the mysteries. He lived day by day, like a walking corpse, indifferent to anything that wasn't related to basic survival.

However, auditory hallucinations affected his ability to act.

The next time he tried to control the machine's direction, his vision went black, and he accidentally stabbed his finger hard on the machine's metal sheet. His finger bones made a whine, and Yuri immediately raised his hand to carefully examine the wound, discovering that the joint of the first phalanx was cyanotic.

The man, who looked unkempt but not dirty, stared at his hands. After a while, he suddenly pulled out a wallpaper knife from his pocket and fiercely inserted it into his fingers amid the humming sound of music that was lingering in his ears and, for some reason, was particularly clear today.

Analgesia.

He stared indifferently at the broken hand that was bleeding profusely, without any intention of stopping the bleeding.

After about a few seconds, new buds of flesh grew on the fingertips, growing rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and finally turned into intact fingers with a slightly lighter skin color.

Uncontrolled regeneration ability.

These two points are Yuri's minor problems, and are the main reason why he can't control the urge to hurt himself, so that he is regarded as a lunatic and has to live in seclusion and rely on hourly jobs to support himself.

The music played in his ears endlessly, like a hymn sung by all things at the birth of God.

Yuri let out a breath, gave up thinking once again, and buried himself in the monotonous work that required no technical skills.

**

Arthur hummed a little tune that was in line with the Zerg's aesthetic taste, and skipped like a human child in a transparent corridor used to view the underwater scenery.

This corridor is built at the lowest end of the zoo's artificial ocean and is surrounded by numerous coral reefs and deep-sea fish. Because the surrounding scenery is rare and charming, it is favored by many human tourists.

The bug went against the crowd and walked to the middle of the passage in broad daylight, showing no interest in the complex and mysterious sea.

He was wearing a little red hat and maintenance worker's uniform today. Although he looked ordinary, he was very friendly. Many passers-by who passed by him would nod to him.

Arthur smiled broadly and finally walked to a door with a sign saying 'Staff Only', unlocked the door with ease and walked in.

The glass on both sides and above this road is also transparent, but because it is not a tourist area, there are not many lighting equipment, so it appears much darker.

However, this environment actually made Arthur feel more comfortable. The Zerg's home planet wasn't in the same galaxy as the Federation's. It was located far from the star, with surface temperatures perpetually below zero, and very little light and oxygen. Dark nights and cold were their familiar themes. In comparison, the human planet was unbearably bright.

He squinted his eyes, peering through the transparent ceiling toward the sea level a dozen meters away. After a moment, he saw something, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Then he bent down, approached an ingeniously designed drain, and quietly threw a round insect egg into it.

"This kind of creature should be able to swim and survive without oxygen?" He said to himself, not really caring. "Forget it, if I can't survive, I'll just try my best to crawl to the surface."

Anyway, there are plenty of these insect eggs among the Zerg, so Arthur never pays attention to them.

The Zerg have no humanistic care.

He straightened up, shrugged happily, thinking that he had successfully completed a meaningless prank, and was about to go back the same way when he bumped into a human who exuded an indescribable smell.

"You..." Before Arthur could react, the other party supported his forehead with one hand and asked hesitantly, "Are you here to repair the sewer too?" Insect King: "..."

Yuri saw double.

In his eyes, Arthur was sometimes a single human being, and sometimes split into two. When they overlapped, they looked particularly disgusting, somewhat like an enlarged version of an insect.

He rubbed his eyes, his patience worn out by the strange illusions and hallucinations, and he forced himself not to lose his temper. "Where are you responsible for? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

The little robot following behind him called out, "Yuri Yuri!"

Arthur's laughter faded a little. "I'm not responsible for cleaning."

"So what are you repairing?" Yuri wanted to silence the robot, so he slapped it again. However, due to his pain and headache, he couldn't control his grip well, and there was a loud bang, as if he was protesting. "My map shows that there are no construction sites here."

Bug's expression turned dangerous. "I'm just passing through, sir."

"Is that so?" Yuri said, his body swaying as he struggled to hold onto the robot. At that moment, the sound in his ears was like a live symphony, and he was sitting next to the speakers, forced to listen to the entire performance. As the music grew louder and clearer, the image of Arthur in his eyes became increasingly strange. That is, why did the overlapping arms of two humans, which were originally just two human figures, look so much like insect wings?

"You look a little strange." Yuri couldn't help but whisper.

"What's strange about that?" Arthur asked with a raised lip.

"You look like..."

Yuri's voice gradually became lower and lower, almost whispering. But Arthur no longer had the patience to listen to the end. He was not a patient person to begin with, and was used to doing whatever he wanted in any situation, whether it was good or evil, it all depended on his mood.

He can start continuous wars in the universe without any scruples, and naturally he can also kill someone openly under the camera.

The bug rushed forward.

His hand transformed into a giant dark scythe as he ran. With the Zerg's excellent mobility, he easily pierced through the fragile and soft human body. The subsequent force was so great that it even directly punctured the glass corridor. The sea water immediately rushed in mercilessly. At the same time, the alarm sounded.

"Ouch." Arthur uttered the word without any sincerity. What surprised him a little was that the man who was knocked to the ground by him and was about to die did not show any expression of fear and pain. Instead, he just lay in a pool of blood and looked at him blankly, with a look of sudden realization gradually appearing in his eyes.

But no matter what he understood, he would die soon, either from excessive blood loss or drowning in the sea.

Arthur paid no more attention to him, and stepped easily over the broken glass and left into the depths of the ocean.

Only Yuri was left alone - if Arthur had looked back, he would have found that his skin washed by the sea water was intact.

The rescuers' terrified shouts were heard in the distance: "Come here quickly! There is another person here!!"

Yuri ignored them.

He was soaking in the sea water and couldn't breathe, but his heart was surprisingly calm. He let go of everything and enjoyed the music around his ears.

Although it is very monotonous and sounds unpleasant at first, once you accept this setting, it will have a magical charm over time.

I don’t know if I’ve been brainwashed.

He stretched out his limbs, closed his eyes in the ocean, and leisurely enjoyed the concert.

In a trance, I seemed to feel a pair of dark eyes staring at me in the dark.